Tempering of cocoa butter and chocolate using minor lipidic components

Jay Chen,Jarvis A Stobbs,Saeed M Ghazani,Alejandro G Marangoni

doi:10.1038/s41467-021-25206-1

Jay Chen, Jarvis A Stobbs + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-25206-1

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Abstract

Chocolate manufacture includes a complex tempering procedure to direct the crystallization of cocoa butter towards the formation of fat crystal networks with specific polymorphism, nano- and microstructure, melting behavior, surface gloss and mechanical properties. Here we investigate the effects of adding various minor non-triglyceride lipidic components to refined cocoa butter and chocolate on their physical properties. We discover that addition of saturated phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylethanolamine to neutralized and bleached cocoa butter or molten and recrystallized commercial chocolate at 0.1% (w/w) levels, followed by rapid cooling to 20 °C in the absence of shear, accelerates crystallization, stabilizes the desirable Form V polymorph and induces the formation of chocolate with an optimal microstructure, surface gloss and mechanical strength. Final chocolate structure and properties are comparable to those of a commercial tempered chocolate. Minor lipidic component addition represents an effective way to engineer chocolate material properties at different length scales, thus simplifying the entire tempering process.

Highlights

Chocolate manufacture includes a complex tempering procedure to direct the crystallization of cocoa butter towards the formation of fat crystal networks with specific polymorphism, nano- and microstructure, melting behavior, surface gloss and mechanical properties
Cocoa Butter (CB), the fat extracted from the Theobroma cacao tree, composes close to 30% of chocolate, and many important characteristics of high-quality chocolate are highly dependent on the crystalline structure of CB triacylglycerols (TAGs)[1,2]
This study aims to elucidate the effects of these minor components on CB crystallization and polymorphism and proposes the idea of utilizing these additives to engineer the solid state and microstructure of CB and chocolate

Summary

Introduction

Chocolate manufacture includes a complex tempering procedure to direct the crystallization of cocoa butter towards the formation of fat crystal networks with specific polymorphism, nano- and microstructure, melting behavior, surface gloss and mechanical properties. Chocolate structured by Form V CB has the proper texture, gloss, snap, and melting profile, and exhibits good thermal and bloom stability Attaining this form can be challenging or tedious, often demanding very specific tempering processes that include specific cooling rates, target temperatures, and shear. Arruda and Dimick[6] investigated the phospholipid content in CB seed crystals, finding that these seed crystals contained a significantly greater proportion of phospholipids compared to bulk CB crystals They suggested that phospholipids, being amphipathic molecules, may play a role in the nucleation process of TAGs, attributed to their ability to self-assemble into mesomorphic structures that would provide a surface upon which TAGs could nucleate and grow[6]. Their study indicated that FFAs generally retard crystal growth, and the degree of their effect depends on their concentration[7]

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